The Search for Love

David is waiting. It's a rare silence that falls around him now. Corpses lie stacked around his feet; he kicks one aside idly, then reaches into his pocket and lights a fat cigar. Smoke curls up gently into the sky.

David is waiting for the holder of his heart; the one who bound his heart with hoops of steel. Many have attacked him, hungry for his blood, or fearful that he complete his mission. He is more than a match for them.

The cigar burns out half its length before the silence ends. Wild screeching sounds from far above; as David rises to his feet, strange and feral creatures fall from the ceiling. David whips out his shotgun, faster than any normal man, and blows his attackers out of the sky. He sidesteps their ruined bodies and pulls his cigar out of his mouth, stomping it on the ground. The attack has begun.

Creatures surround David from all sides; some screaming and charging, others hanging back and launching attacks from afar. He dispatches them all with equal skill, smashing them down with incredible strength as he whirls through the battlefield like a dynamo of death. One creature he blasts apart with a shotgun blast; in the next moment, he uses that same shotgun to smash down a charging screamer and drops another enemy with a pistol held in his off-hand. The enemy cannot touch him. It is glorious.

But in the heat of battle, David for a crucial moment neglects his purpose. He forgets to keep watch for his heart-bound one - and when he sees her, walking obliviously by, he fears it is too late. Charging recklessly, he tries to break through to her, shouting his battle cry ("死んでいただけませんか!"). The creatures, sensing his intent, mass to stop him; in no direction are they more numerous but in that of his beloved. David attacks with even greater vigor and skill - and, with a perfectly-timed explosive blast, the enemies before him are blown aside, and the path is clear. David runs as fast as he can; but before he can reach his target of love, she vanishes through a doorway, and a half dozen more creatures drop from the ceiling to block his path.

She is lost to him.

David howls in wordless rage and sorrow. The enemy is driven back before him; soon, they scatter, daunted by his horrific prowess. But the damage is done. The battle is lost.

David resigns himself to wait, lighting another cigar. She will come again. He will see her, before all is lost.